Best Use Year for me?

[Nanabug02]

I'm normally pretty sharp, but for some reason I am having trouble grasping what my best UY would be. Can someone help, please?

We normally go in May, June and October. What would be the best use year for these travel dates and why?

Thanks so much!!!!

 

[Jason@dvcstore]

I'm normally pretty sharp, but for some reason I am having trouble grasping what my best UY would be. Can someone help, please?

We normally go in May, June and October. What would be the best use year for these travel dates and why?

Thanks so much!!!!

March or April would be the best use years for you. March would give you until the last day of October to bank 100% of your points and April would give you until last day of November to bank 100% of your points. That is important should you ever need to cancel a vacation that you have scheduled for October.

 

[CarolMN]

I'm normally pretty sharp, but for some reason I am having trouble grasping what my best UY would be. Can someone help, please?

We normally go in May, June and October. What would be the best use year for these travel dates and why?

Thanks so much!!!!

March or April would be the best use years for you. March would give you until the last day of October to bank 100% of your points and April would give you until last day of November to bank 100% of your points. That is important should you ever need to cancel a vacation that you have scheduled for October.

February would also work for those travel times. The banking deadline for February use years is the end of September.

If you do not cancel a reservation at least 31 days in advance, the returned points go into the "holding account" and cannot be banked anyway. So to avoid the holding account, the latest you could cancel an October vacation would be sometime in September (or possibly the very end of August if your check in date was early in October).

Holding account points carry booking restrictions (can't make a reservation with them that begins more than 60 days in the future), so members really try to avoid late cancellations.

 

[ajseagles3]

March or April would be the best use years for you. March would give you until the last day of October to bank 100% of your points and April would give you until last day of November to bank 100% of your points. That is important should you ever need to cancel a vacation that you have scheduled for October.

I never even thought of "changing" my use year. It's August, and we usually go in May! It makes no sense!

I may have to do some selling and buying....

 

[disneynutz]

I vote for April. Select a UY just prior to the start of your vacation cycle.

 

[felway17]

For me... I am a little disappointed that I did not know much about use year at time of purchase.

I live up in NY... typically since my wife is a teacher we like to go either during the Feb winter break, or March/April... Which is of course the most popular time. So to me I wish I had an March use year.. Reason is than I could book the Feb break as soon as possible, almost a year in advance.

That is how I would pick my use year... If I know one month that I truly want... I would add one month to it, and use that as my use year.

 

[CarolMN]

For me... I am a little disappointed that I did not know much about use year at time of purchase.

I live up in NY... typically since my wife is a teacher we like to go either during the Feb winter break, or March/April... Which is of course the most popular time. So to me I wish I had an March use year.. Reason is than I could book the Feb break as soon as possible, almost a year in advance.

That is how I would pick my use year... If I know one month that I truly want... I would add one month to it, and use that as my use year.

If you are going to mostly travel in February, March & April (and were picking your use year right now), you should pick February.

I think you misunderstand the relationship between booking & use year - no matter what you use year may be, you can always book your home resort as early as 11 months prior to check in.

Use year determines banking deadlines and which year's allotment pays for the stay.

For your usual travel times, use years of August, September, October, December & February would all work well for you. Take a look at the Understanding Use Year thread and see if it helps clear up the misunderstanding. Feel free to ask more questions.

 

[Opie100]

I think I get all of this but here's one more situation:

Let's assume a June UY. A ressie is made for June 10-17. On May 1, the ressie is cancelled. The points are returned and are completely bankable, even though the ressie is cancelled outside of the eight-month period, right?

(Am I correct that the relevant date, in this case, is the date of the ressie and not the date the ressie is cancelled, presuming 30+ days out?)

 

[Simba's Mom]

I never even thought of "changing" my use year. It's August, and we usually go in May! It makes no sense!

I may have to do some selling and buying....

That's our use year too, and we also go when the OP go. Yet, in 7 1/2 years of DVC ownership, we've never encountered any issues regarding UY. I opened this thread out of curiousity-when we bought, we never thought about use year and our guide just told us that was the use year being sold.

 

[Chuck S]

I think I get all of this but here's one more situation:

Let's assume a June UY. A ressie is made for June 10-17. On May 1, the ressie is cancelled. The points are returned and are completely bankable, even though the ressie is cancelled outside of the eight-month period, right?

(Am I correct that the relevant date, in this case, is the date of the ressie and not the date the ressie is cancelled, presuming 30+ days out?)

Yes, if you have a June use year, and cancel a June 10 to 17 reservation before the 31 day cancellation deadline, the points return to normal status in that use year, and may be banked. We often travel in June and Nov/Dec/Jan time frame, and I'm happy with my June use year. On the rare occasions that our trips start in the end of May, then I take a risk that those few days may be lost if I need to cancel. I haven't lost any points yet.